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About Us:
The National Youth Rights Association (NYRA) defends the civil and human rights of young people in the United States through educating people about youth rights, working with public officials and empowering young people to work on their own behalf. We believe certain basic rights are intrinsic parts of American citizenship and transcend age or status limits.
NYRA is a national youth-led organization with over 7,000 members and chapters in a dozen states. We support lowering the voting age, lowering the drinking age, repealing government curfews, protecting student rights and fighting age discrimination.
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| NYRA News
August 20, 2008
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NYRA's Annual Meeting a Huge Success
This month NYRA held its annual meeting at its offices in Washington,
DC, and it was by all measures a great success. This year's meeting
had the biggest turnout ever, with an estimated 30 people in
attendance. Good times were had by all, with good food, amazing
people, and some great presentations and workshops.
The schedule was packed with empowering and informative speakers speakers from the ACLU, the Community Alliance for the Ethical Treatment of Youth (CAFETY), Youth Venture, Mobilize, and Students for a Democratic Society. Plus inspiring and thought provoking speeches & presentations by NYRA officers, staff and members Chip Sinton, Julian Gutierrez, Justin Graham, and Yonaton Yares. Plus the annual presentation of NYRA's annual report and strategic discussion for the year ahead. The report details the tremendously successful year NYRA has had and looks ahead to the future.
Those who came to the meeting also had a youth rights cookout at our
fearless executive director's house after Saturday's conference.
Attendees had the opportunity to vote in this year's annual election
in person, and were the first in the country to hear the results of
the election. Check out pictures from the event here. Thanks to everyone who came and participated for making
this year's annual meeting a great success, and the best yet.
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The Election Results Are In
Voting in this year's annual election is complete, and the results
have been announced! The membership chose a new Board of Directors, a new slogan for NYRA, and voted on changes to the organization's
mission statement and bylaws. Voting began on July 3 and lasted for a
month until the annual meeting on August 2; voting in the election was
open to all dues paying members of NYRA. In all, 80 of you helped chart the
course of NYRA over the next year by voting. This kind of high
participation is good for the future of NYRA.
With so many qualified candidates this year, choosing a board of only
nine was a difficult task for voters. In the end, incumbents Alex
Koroknay-Palicz, Keith Mandell, Katrina Moncure, Stefan Muller, Chip
Sinton and Yonaton Yares won re-election, and they will be joined by
three newcomers: Justin Graham has co-edited NYRA Freedom since
February 2008; Jason Kende has been an active NYRA member for years,
serving on the Board of Directors from 2003-2004 and helping work on the NYRA website; and Eric Kim is the president of NYRA-Bergen County, NJ, which recently desegregated a local McDonalds.
Additionally, NYRA now has a new slogan (Live Free, Start Young), and
changes to the mission statement and bylaws were approved by the
membership. Thanks also go to all of you who made your voice heard by voting. We have a busy and doubtless very productive year ahead of us, and NYRA is in good hands.
NYRA to Air TV Ads; Your Help Needed
NYRA and board member Keith Mandell are sponsoring "Make NYRA Famous," a contest to see who can create the best NYRA TV ad. We are looking
for talented, creative members and supporters to create our very first
TV ad, which will be aired on Washington DC cable this fall on
stations like CNN and MTV. The ad should focus on NYRA's efforts to
lower the voting age, and will air in time for the 2008 presidential
elections. The best ad will receive a $100 prize and will air on TV
this fall; all other quality ads will be published on NYRA's website,
YouTube, blogs, and elsewhere on the Internet.
To volunteer, or if you have any questions, please contact Keith. If you can't shoot an ad yourself, you can
still contribute to this exciting project by donating to NYRA so that the ad can run on more stations. We would like to receive all entries by September 1, to ensure
that the best ad will air in October, before the election. Get more info about the contest here.
NYRA Moves to New Office
If all the activity of the past month wasn't enough, NYRA has moved to
a new office! After the annual meeting was over and most people had
gone home, NYRA staff and volunteers helped move all our equipment to
our new offices. In an office swap with another organization, Atlas
Service Corps, NYRA got a bigger office for lower rent (the trade-off
for the other organization is that they now get to share space with
their partner, Mobilize.org, which will save us money as we move
forward. NYRA's new address is 1101 15th St., NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20005, and our new office phone number is 202-296-2992 x131.
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Quote of the Month
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No one is more truly helpless, more completely a victim, than he who can neither choose nor change nor escape his protectors.
- John Holt, "Escape from Childhood"
Suggest a quote
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NYRA
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1101 15th Street, NW
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Suite 200
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Washington, DC
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20005
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